Doorways in buildings can be used as access points between areas having different floor levels. Where the difference in height between floor levels is too large for people to conveniently move through the doorway between the different floor levels, buildings may often include stairs or escalators with banisters to assist and provide support to individuals. There are occasions, however, when the floor height difference is not great warranting only a few steps on one or both sides of the doorway. At times, these doorways are created as a modification to a building such as an older house, or else the flooring on and around the stairs are insufficiently strong, or because space constraints do not allow placement of a full floor-supported banister. At times, elderly, infirm or disabled individuals may find passage through such a doorway difficult or infeasible without some kind of support.
Mounting a cantilevered handrail on a vertical building structure such as a wall without secondary vertical support along the length of the railing through, for example, a baluster or other vertical member attached to the floor or stair may provide insufficient support to withstand the forces that a large individual might generate. These forces can include forces lateral to the cantilevered handrail's mounting surface—both vertical and horizontal (side-to-side), forces perpendicular (towards or away from) the mounting surface, or torsional forces that twist the railing in some direction. Excessive forces can generate stresses on the mounting surface that crush the material of the building surface or pull the handrail off the building surface. What is needed, then, is a handrail that be mounted at a location conveniently adjacent to the doorway and distribute these forces over the mounting surface of the wall so that the handrail remains resiliently fixed to the building to provide lasting support to users.